Kingdom
by Anney
Summary: Once upon a time there was a boy. One-shot, Dean-centric.


_Title:_ Kingdom  
_Disclaimer:_ I don't own any of this.  
_Summary:_ Once upon a time there was a boy.  
_Word count:_ 964  
_A/N: _I found this where I had started it back in 2006 and decided to post it here just for the fun of it. No beta reader, so any mistakes you can feel free to point them out. No spoilers for the new season, but if you haven't seen season three maybe you should be aware that the end of that is mentioned in passing. Other than that I'd say this is kinda au-ish but that's a cop out so I won't. Take it as you will I suppose.

_Kingdom_

Once upon a time there was a boy.

Which is how the story always starts and in between the first sentence and the last is a tale of grand adventure and growth. A tale of things that is hidden and then discovered. Most of the time the boy grows into a man that hunts for a princess to save, a dragon to fight, a kingdom to save and in the end he lives happily ever after with the princess, a dragon hide carpet, and a shiny crown to show his new kingly status.

Let's switch it up though. Have a new story.

Once upon a time there was a boy and he was born to a king and a queen that had nothing but each other. Technically they weren't a king or a queen. The father had been to war while the mother had never been out of the little town she was born in. The man and woman saw each other and that was that. Marriage and a child.

They moved into a house that was smaller than a castle but just perfect for them and life was good.

The End.

Only not. The mother has a son who is perfect with his ten toes and fingers. With his eyes and his smile and his chubby baby cheeks. Some odd years after the first son is a second. The castle gets smaller but it's the smallness of a family.

They have two beautiful sons and life is good.

The End.

Only lets go one more time. The youngest is still a baby. A child of six months. Small and fragile and easily damaged. The youngest is protected first by the father then by the mother and finally, if need be, by the older son. Or so it's suppose to go.

There was this thing. Thing because no one is sure what else to call it. Him. Demon. This thing, this demon, he wanted the youngest son for reasons that aren't clear. Reasons that you, as of now, have no need to know of. A secret reason.

He, the demon thing, tried to steal the youngest son of this king, this queen only to be stopped by the mother in the act. Fleeing the scene and killing her as he went.

Life is painful and the mother dies.

The End.

You know how it goes now. The boys grow up without her and the father moves on without letting her go. Father raises his sons to be the only thing he really knows. They grow up to be warriors and they learn to fight before they play. Weapon lessons instead of football. Self defense instead of some other club.

Father gives up many things that the youngest doesn't see or understand. Mother gave up everything but the baby doesn't remember her. So it's almost, for him, like she was never really there.

The End.

Only you know it isn't. Let's call the youngest son Sam. Sam the reason why his mother died. Sam who can wear guilt like it's not even there. Hidden behind layers and layers of blame and acceptance. Dean is what the oldest is called. Dean who is smaller than Sam but will fight and kill and murder for the other. Dean who can't forget the sacrifice of his mother. Dean who can't forget anything about her.

The end.

Once upon a time there was a man named Dean who fought against the darkness that tried to take over the world inch by inch because of something that happened long long ago. Dean had no family besides a father that disappeared and a brother that didn't want to follow in the family footsteps.

Dean hunted down things that hurt people. Things that killed and ate and did other things to people. Dean kept the world safe from the monsters, from the bump-in-the-night things, from the hidden things, from your nightmare things. Dean kept you safe.

Only at some point Dean got lost. He stumbled and fell off the path his father had put him on and started trying to figure out who he was without the hands of his father holding him steady. Without the hands of his father lining the path he was raised to stick to.

The end is that Dean's father died and left him with more questions than answers. The king of this story never got his dragon hide carpet in front of the fire, or the princess that he had fell in love with at first sight, his sons never had a kingdom and the kings dreams never came true.

The point is that sometimes a fairy tale ends and the end is nothing like you want it to be. Dean sells his soul for a little brother that doesn't want to be saved at the cost of the other. Only Dean doesn't know of any way but self sacrifice to show how much he cares or how far he'll go. Sam, well, Sam never really learned anything but how to be stubborn and how to fight and how to win. Even if sometimes winning means cutting down to the bone of others and not stopping even then.

Dean, the oldest prince of John-and-Mary's kingdom, does in the end kill that dragon that ruined the castle he had so few years to learn and play in. He finds his magic sword, gun, and cuts to the quick and puts it down like the rabid thing it is. Dean should mean self sacrifice and love but it doesn't so he goes on like he always did for one more year and then is torn to pieces of flesh, blood, and gore while Sam watches and cries and misses his brother even before he's really gone.

The end.


End file.
